Vapour source and spatiotemporal variation of precipitation isotopes in Southwest Spain

The δ²H and δ¹⁸O composition of 77 precipitation samples collected between January 2014 and April 2019 from two sites across the Guadalquivir Basin, SW Spain, were analysed. The first site is located in an urban area of Seville at 100 km distance to the Atlantic coast and the second site is located in a dune area of the Doñana National Park a few kilometres from the coast. Sampling was performed within intervals of at least 14 days if rain occurred but frequently intervals were longer according to the rainfall incidence. Samples from both sites are available for the period February 2016 to June 2018 with six samples containing identical rain events at both locations. Precipitation weighted averages and local meteoric water lines produced by weighting and non-weighting regression methods are presented for its use in hydrological applications. Results show a remarkably high variability in δ²H and δ¹⁸O values and precipitation weighted average d-excess values of 11.8‰ and 13‰ at the sites Plaza de España and Doñana, respectively. Temperature and amount effects were found to be weak. A significant influence of secondary evaporation for single rainfall events during summer was identified by enriched isotopic signatures with reduced d-excess values plotting close or below the global meteoric water line. Backward trajectory analysis of 115 days with daily rainfall above 3 mm yield a predominant Atlantic Ocean vapour source with negligible Mediterranean influence and therefore, d-excess variability is attributed to the different ocean surface conditions of relative humidity and sea surface temperature. Parallel sampling indicate very similar isotopic signatures at both sites and point to the existence of thermal effects of the Plaza de España site in Seville city during the summer season.     

Exploring possible connections between hydrological extreme events and climate change in central south Chile

Abstract

Motivated by recent extreme flow events in the Mataquito River located in the Mediterranean region of Chile, we performed a detailed trend analysis of critical hydroclimatic variables based on observed daily flow, precipitation and temperature within the basin. For the period 1976–2008, positive trends in temperature were observed, especially during spring and summer months. At the same time, we found negative trends in the frequency and intensity of precipitation, especially during spring months. We observed an increasing difference between average streamflow in the rainy season as compared to the snowmelt season. Part of this trend is caused by larger flows during autumn months, although no positive precipitation trends are observed for these months. Finally, significant reductions in minimum flow during spring/summer and a disproportionate concentration of high-flow events occurring in the last 10 years were also identified. These high-flow events tend to happen during autumn months, and are associated with high precipitation and high minimum temperatures. Based on a simple assessment of changes in irrigated agriculture and land use, we concluded that other non-climatic factors seem not to be as relevant to the detected flow trends. All these results are in accord with future climate change scenarios that show an increase in temperature, a reduction in average precipitation and a reduction in snow accumulation. Such future scenarios could seriously hamper the development of economic activities in this basin, exemplifying also a fate that may be shared by other similar basins in Chile and in other regions of the world.

Editor Z.W. Kundzewicz

Citation Vicuña, S., Gironás, J., Meza, F.J., Cruzat, M.L., Jelinek, M., Bustos, E., Poblete, D., and Bambach, N., 2013. Exploring possible connections between hydrological extreme events and climate change in central south Chile. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 58 (8), 1598–1619.     

Grenvillian remnants in the Northern Andes: Rodinian and Phanerozoic paleogeographic perspectives

Grenvillian crust is encountered in several basement inliers in the northern Andes of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru and is also represented as a major detrital or inherited component within Neoproterozoic to Paleozoic sedimentary and magmatic rocks. This review of the tectonic and geochronological record of the Grenvillian belt in the northern Andes suggests that these crustal segments probably formed on an active continental margin in which associated arc and back-arc magmatism evolved from ca. 1.25 to 1.16 Ga, possibly extending to as young as 1.08 Ga.The lithostratigraphic and tectonic history of the Grenvillian belt in the northern Andes differs from that of the Sunsas belt on the southwest Amazonian Craton and from the Grenvillian belt of Eastern Laurentia. It is considered that this belt, along with similar terranes of Grenvillian age in Middle America and Mexico define a separate composite orogen which formed on the northwestern margin of the Amazonian Craton. Microcontinent accretion and interaction with the Sveconorwegian province on Baltica is a feasible tectonic scenario, in line with recent paleogeographic reconstructions of the Rodinian supercontinent. Although Phanerozoic tectonics may have redistributed some of these terranes, they are still viewed as para-autocthonous domains that remained in proximity to the margin of Amazonia. Paleogeographic data derived from Phanerozoic rocks suggest that some of the Colombian Grenvillian fragments were connected to northernmost Peru and Ecuador until the Mesozoic, whereas the Mexican terranes where attached to the Colombian margin until Pangea fragmentation in Late Triassic times.     

Modelling production of migratory catfish larvae (Pimelodidae) on the basis of regional hydro‐ climatology features of the Madre de Dios Basin in southeastern Peru

A simple stochastic model is presented to describe the influence of the natural flow regime of the Madre de Dios River (southeastern Peru) on the presence and downstream transportation of catfish larvae (Siluriformes: Pimelodidae), an important migratory species in commercial fisheries in the Peruvian Amazon region. One year of daily river stage records were related to weekly larval catches to determine the association between floods and spawning events, and based on the hydro‐climatologic characteristics of Andean‐Amazon regions, available long‐term historical rainfall records were used to determine the inter‐annual variability of floods within the Madre de Dios Basin. Major larval drift occurred during the high water season, specifically in association with stages of over 5 m, which served as an indicator triggering spawning responses of these species, termed a ‘biologically significant event’ (BSE). Timing of these BSEs, estimated from the historical rainfall records, described a uniform distribution during the wet season, and their inter‐arrival times were exponentially distributed. These observations provided the basis of the stochastic model describing the likelihood of larvae releases from this headwater region to the lowland Amazon. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Field and geochemical characteristics of Mesoarchean to Neoarchean volcanic rocks in the Storø greenstone belt,SW Greenland: Evidence for accretion of intra-oceanic volcanic arcs

The Storø greenstone belt, southern West Greenland, consists of thrust-imbricated slices of Mesoarchean (>3060 Ma) and Neoarchean (ca. 2800 Ma) mafic to ultramafic volcanic rocks, volcaniclastic sediments, and gabbro–anorthosite associations. The belt underwent polyphase metamorphism at upper amphibolite facies conditions between 2650 and 2600 Ma. The contacts between the Mesoarchean and Neoarchean volcanic rocks, and surrounding Eoarchean to Neoarchean tonalite–trondhjemite–granodiorite (TTG) gneisses are tectonic and typically bounded by high-grade mylonites. Regardless of age, the volcanic rocks are dominated by mafic amphibolites with a tholeiitic basalt composition, near-flat to slightly enriched light rare earth element (LREE) patterns (La/Sm_cn = 0.91–1.48), relatively flat to slightly depleted heavy-REE (HREE) (Gd/Yb_cn = 1.0–1.28), and pronounced negative Nb–Ta anomalies (Nb/Nb* = 0.34–0.73) on chondrite- and primitive mantle-normalized diagrams. These geochemical characteristics are consistent with subduction zone geochemical signatures and partial melting of a shallow (<80 km) mantle source free of residual garnet. There is no geochemical evidence for contamination by older continental crust. The overall field and geochemical characteristics suggest that the thrust-imbricated basaltic rocks were erupted in intra-oceanic subduction zone settings. Sedimentary rocks are represented by garnet–biotite and quartzitic gneisses. They are characterized by relatively high contents of transition metal (Ni = 10–154 ppm; Cr = 7–166 ppm) and enriched LREE patterns (La/Sm_cn = 1.38–3.79). These geochemical characteristics suggest that the sedimentary rocks were derived from erosion of felsic to mafic igneous source rocks. Collectively, the structural and lithogeochemical characteristics of the Storø greenstone belt are consistent with collision (accretion) of unrelated Archean volcanic rocks formed in supra-subduction zone geodynamic settings. Accordingly, the Mesoarchean and Neoarchean rock record of the Storø greenstone belt may well be explained in terms of modern-style plate tectonic processes.     

Coversand and Pleistocene palaeosols in the Landes region,southwestern France

New sections in the coversand of the Landes region, southwestern France, show at least two main depositional phases corresponding to the Upper Pleniglacial and the Lateglacial, which are separated by palaeosols. The lower palaeosol, a gleyic to histic cryosol overlying a net of sand wedges and dated to ca. 23 ¹⁴C ka BP, testifies to a short occurrence of permafrost. Impeded drainage due to the frozen subsoil is assumed to be the main factor involved in lowered aeolian transport and soil formation. Pollen analysis indicates a shrub tundra‐type environment. The overlying coversand unit is associated with small transverse ridges or sheet‐like deposits, and corresponds to the maximal extension of the sands, Upper Pleniglacial in age. An incipient podzol developed on the dunes under a boreal pine forest, and has been dated to 11.5–12 ¹⁴C ka BP, i.e. to the Allerød period. This has been buried by the second coversand unit during the Younger Dryas, typified by abundant denivation features and root imprints. Although preliminary, the chronology of sand deposition in the Landes region appears thus to be roughly similar to that found for the other European coversands, showing that all were the result of similar western European climatic changes, i.e. repeated episodes of increasing aridity related to the Upper Pleniglacial and the Younger Dryas episode. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Corredoiras orthogneiss (NW Iberian Massif): Geochemistry and geochronology of the Paleozoic magmatic suite developed in a peri-Gondwanan arc

The Corredoiras orthogneiss belongs to the intermediate pressure upper units of the Órdenes Complex (Variscan belt, NW Spain), mainly composed by granodioritic orthogneisses, with small bodies of tonalitic orthogneisses, amphibole-rich orthogneisses and metagabbronorites. In this work we study their chemical and isotopic composition, to gain insight into the linkage between plate tectonics and magmatism and to improve the knowledge of the paleogeographic evolution of the European Variscan Belt.Granodioritic and tonalitic orthogneisses range from intermediate to felsic rocks, with K₂O/Na₂O ratios ≈ 1, typical of calc-alkaline rocks, and high Na₂O content, characteristic of I-type granites. Metagabbronorites are basic rocks, but some of them are contaminated by interaction with the felsic magmas, showing enrichment in SiO₂, Na₂O and K₂O. All Corredoiras metaigneous rocks are enriched in large ion lithophile elements (LILE) and light rare earth elements (LREE) relative to high field strength elements (HFSE), resulting in a high LILE/HFSE ratio. These geochemical features are the most characteristic of magmas related to subduction zones; furthermore all orthogneisses display significant negative anomalies in Ta, Nb and Zr, which together with their low contents in Y and Yb match up with granitoids generated in volcanic arcs or subduction zones. SHRIMP U–Pb zircon dating provides a concordia age of 492 ± 3 Ma. Granodioritic orthogneiss has negative εNd_(492 Ma) values (? 2.2 to ? 3.6) and high (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr)_i ratios (0.707 to 0.708), on the other hand tonalitic orthogneisses and metagabbronorites have positive εNd_(492 Ma) (1.0 to 2.4) and low (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr)_i (0.703 to 0.705), suggesting that granodioritic orthogneisses have a clear crustal influence in their generation, whereas tonalitic orthogneisses and metagabbros can be related to basic magmas extracted from the mantle or from a basic lower continental crust.The Corredoiras chemical characteristics permit us to interpret that this rocks were probably generated in an ensialic island arc and may represent a peri-Gondwanan fragment drifted away to open the Rheic Ocean.     

Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility and magnetic properties of obsidians: volcanic implications

The anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS), hysteresis and thermomagnetic curves of two sets of obsidians with contrasting bulk compositions are reported in this work. The cooling and deformation history of one of those obsidians is perfectly known, as these specimens were produced in the laboratory using material from a basaltic lava flow. The other samples are occurrences of a more silicic composition and for which the AMS has been documented to have a close relationship with the distribution of microlites. The results of our measurements indicate that although the deformation and cooling histories of the lava might influence the exact composition of the ferromagnetic fraction, the relationship between the AMS and the deformation history does not seem to be altered. Furthermore, the results of this work indicate that the AMS can be associated to a population of ferromagnetic minerals of a submicroscopic size, despite of which it can be very well defined and yield large degrees of anisotropy. It is suggested that the AMS associated to such population of small grains might indeed be the origin of the AMS of other igneous rocks that have an optically observable fraction of mineral grains, although until present it had been overlooked in most instances. Use of tests designed to identify the contribution of a superparamagnetic fraction (SP) in the magnetic properties of a rock can help us to identify the presence of such a SP-related AMS in other cases.     

Weathering processes in waste materials from a mining area in a semiarid zone

Chemical and mineralogical characterization of waste materials present in an abandoned Pb, Zn–Ag mining site (SE, Spain) was carried out. In unaltered rocks, the mineralogy is characterized by plagioclase, pyroxene, magnetite, ilmenite, amphibole, biotite and quartz. Trace-element contents of these samples represent unaltered values. In mine-waste materials, pH ranged from acidic to slightly acidic and trace-element content was generally high, especially for Pb and Zn, although there were also substantial As concentrations. X-ray diffraction results suggested that these samples have a complex mineralogy, including alteration products. Surficial materials in the study area were affected by weathering processes, generating supergene assemblages, including Fe and Mn oxides and hydroxides, carbonates, hydrated sulfates and jarosite. Knowledge of the geochemical processes that took place in the past and which are still taking place provide an important tool for assessing associated environmental problems in this area.